Khudobin helps Boston down Ottawa

Anton Khudobin made 44 saves in his Bruins debut as Boston defeated the Ottawa Senators, 3-1, at Scotiabank Place.

Benoit Pouliot, Greg Zanon and Milan Lucic scored for Boston, which earned its third win in the last four games.

Jason Spezza recorded the lone goal for the Senators, who have dropped two straight. Ottawa currently sits in the seventh position of the Eastern Conference with 92 points, two points ahead of Washington.

The Sens need just one point in their season finale against New Jersey on Saturday to lock up the seventh seed.

Ben Bishop stopped 24 shots in a losing effort.

Boston recorded the lone goal of the first period after Pouliot and Brian Rolston raced down the ice on a 2-on-1 rush. Pouliot carried the puck down the right side before sending a cross-ice pass to Rolston near the left circle and then tapping home the return feed at the 10:36 mark.

The Senators had a chance for the equalizer near the end of the period when Rolston was whistled for slashing, but they could not convert on the power play and the Bruins carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

The Bruins then made it a 2-0 game 3:51 into the second period when Zanon grabbed an errant clearing attempt by Ottawa at the left point and fired a slap shot that first deflected off Bishop's glove and then hit the right post before trickling across the goal line.

Ottawa later pulled within one with 6:04 left in the second on Spezza's hard wrister from the slot that hit the left post before bouncing off the back of Khudobin and into the net.

But the Senators were unable to tie the game before Lucic regained the Bruins' two-goal advantage with 4:33 left in the game on a one-timer from the slot that sailed into the twine.

Khudobin made 16 saves in the second period and turned aside all 11 shots in the third to hang on for the win.

Game Notes

Khudobin appeared in six games with the Wild from 2009-2011, amassing a 4-1 record with one shutout...If Ottawa remains in the seventh seed, they will meet Boston in the first round of the playoffs...The Senators closed out their regular season home record with a 20-17-4 mark...Boston ended its regular season with a 25-15-1 record on the road.